Would You Use This Item?

[Unoriginal]

That's a great plan.
That's the fun bit.
One can hope.

Just write "only the best demon can use this blade" on it.

[stoutstien]

if you never use it against demons it'd be a magic weapon at least.

Eh. Maybe but it looks like it's going to be a pretty large focus of the next arch so I don't think the risk is worth it. Seeing how there are other options available if they are willing to cough up the gold/time. they may be able to at least fix some of the issues with the sword that is basically cursed.

[Greywander]

To be clear, a cursed item isn't usually wholly detrimental. Often a cursed item is simply one with a severe drawback that makes it a gamble to use. The idea is that either (a) the person doesn't know it's cursed until it's too late (usually a cursed item can't be unattuned or gotten rid of), or (b) the benefits are enough to make the item tempting to use, despite the drawbacks. It's a gamble, but it's a gamble that the wielder is designed to lose eventually. An item can have a drawback without being cursed, and an item can be cursed and still be useful. Typically, an item is cursed by design, whereas a noncursed item with a drawback has that drawback as an unintended consequence of how the item works. In that sense, perhaps this isn't really a cursed item. It's just a bad item.

If I were to redesign this item here's a couple changes I would make:

• I'd make it a +1 weapon that deals an extra 1d6 damage to fiends in general. This way, it will be useful for more than just demons.
• Once on your turn when you hit a demon, you can deal an additional 2d6 damage to that demon.
• When you use this trait to deal this extra damage to a demon, you have to roll on the table.
• Only a roll of 1 gives a negative result. For example, you take 1d8 damage and are stunned for one round.
• 2, 3, or 4 gives very minor results, like casting light, creating difficult terrain, or pushing a creature.
• 5 or 6 gives a stronger beneficial result, such as extra damage or inflicting a condition on the target.
• On a critical hit, you deal an additional 2d6 damage to the target and roll on the table, even if the target isn't a demon.

Something like that, anyway. That's just kind of a rough first draft, I'm sure with further thought I could tune it better. Maybe check with your DM to see if this is amenable to them as an alternative.

[heavyfuel]

I wouldn't use this item - regardless of how powerful or weak it is - because it would absolutely grind every combat against a demon to a halt.

Roll attack, roll damage, roll d6, consult table, roll extra damage/roll d100, consult table, "what does Frightened/Stunned/Incapacitated do again?", consult conditions

FOR EVERY SINGLE SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ROLL

Were I given this sword in an actual game, I would just sell it for a profit at the first opportunity

[CapnWildefyr]

Just write "only the best demon can use this blade" on it.

or, just... "Pick me up."

Spoiler: Guess that movie?

Show

Mom and Dad Save the World, 1992. Not sure if I should be proud to remember this one, but the light grenade gag is priceless.

[Xenothelm]

Not my first choice, but maybe with a rogue to avoid too many madness rolls.
Maybe if halfling luck or the lucky feat could apply to the d6 roll too, or if there was a save to avoid the madness

He made it a d6 roll specifically to avoid dealing with my Halfling Luck lmao

20% paralyzed, 10% incapacitated, 10% frightened, 5% eat something, 10% stun, 10% incapacitated.
(not even counting potential problems such as 10% attack nearest creature)

65% of the Short-Term Madness table removes you from combat, and each hit, you have a 1/3 chance to get this. Running it throught a calculator, that gets

1 hit: 22%
2 hits: +17% = 39%
3 hits: +13% = 52%
4 hits: +10% = 62%
5 hits: +8% = 70%
...

For me, hard pass for any combat I'd explect to last longer then a round ... which, frankly, is any combat that would be worth having the damage boost. And that's not even counting the RP aspect of it. Or the attunement. So, really really, REALLY, hard pass.

Thanks for doing the math on this, the risks are extremely clear looking at those numbers...

I have to ask: are you sure that the blacksmith you went to isn't in league with the demons and trying to get you killed? Because this weapon really sounds like something a saboteur would give you, in hopes of you killing yourself with it.

This is a great question. The 3 blacksmiths have been hard at work supporting the military factions that will be joining us against the keep, so an inside job screwing with much of the equipment would be a crazy twist...

To be clear, a cursed item isn't usually wholly detrimental. Often a cursed item is simply one with a severe drawback that makes it a gamble to use. The idea is that either (a) the person doesn't know it's cursed until it's too late (usually a cursed item can't be unattuned or gotten rid of), or (b) the benefits are enough to make the item tempting to use, despite the drawbacks. It's a gamble, but it's a gamble that the wielder is designed to lose eventually. An item can have a drawback without being cursed, and an item can be cursed and still be useful. Typically, an item is cursed by design, whereas a noncursed item with a drawback has that drawback as an unintended consequence of how the item works. In that sense, perhaps this isn't really a cursed item. It's just a bad item.

If I were to redesign this item here's a couple changes I would make:

• I'd make it a +1 weapon that deals an extra 1d6 damage to fiends in general. This way, it will be useful for more than just demons.
• Once on your turn when you hit a demon, you can deal an additional 2d6 damage to that demon.
• When you use this trait to deal this extra damage to a demon, you have to roll on the table.
• Only a roll of 1 gives a negative result. For example, you take 1d8 damage and are stunned for one round.
• 2, 3, or 4 gives very minor results, like casting light, creating difficult terrain, or pushing a creature.
• 5 or 6 gives a stronger beneficial result, such as extra damage or inflicting a condition on the target.
• On a critical hit, you deal an additional 2d6 damage to the target and roll on the table, even if the target isn't a demon.

Something like that, anyway. That's just kind of a rough first draft, I'm sure with further thought I could tune it better. Maybe check with your DM to see if this is amenable to them as an alternative.

I've already brought up concerns and I'm sort of the rules lawyer of the table so I don't wanna push it too much. It definitely wasn't intended to be cursed, that I know of, but I think this is supposed to illustrate the risk of using the cheaper blacksmith. Apparently the effects were based on a table we rolled on at the time of purchase. Just a d20, so who knows how great it could've been. Like a lot of people have suggested, I'll probably just sell it. If things are clearly resisting non-magical damage I'll give it a try, but otherwise it's staying sheathed lol...

I wouldn't use this item - regardless of how powerful or weak it is - because it would absolutely grind every combat against a demon to a halt.

Roll attack, roll damage, roll d6, consult table, roll extra damage/roll d100, consult table, "what does Frightened/Stunned/Incapacitated do again?", consult conditions

FOR EVERY SINGLE SUCCESSFUL ATTACK ROLL

Were I given this sword in an actual game, I would just sell it for a profit at the first opportunity

The hilarious part is the conjure spells are limited at our table; casters need to seek out examples of the things they're trying to summon - beasts/fey/elemental/etc. I noticed immediately how long this might stretch my turn so that was an eyebrow raiser as well.

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Thanks for the pretty much unanimous opinion everyone. I'll probably hold on to it in case there are any NOT demons inside. Otherwise, it's a display piece.

[Slipjig]

This item is so terrible I would consider selling it to an unsuspecting mark an Evil act.

Take it to a better smith and ask them to destroy it in front of you.